Prime event Published Nov. 20, 2008 By Brandice J. Armstrong Tinker Public Affairs TINKER AIR FORCE BASE, Okla., -- No one said establishing a business relationship with the Air Force would be easy, but it can be done. And, officials said it is worthwhile. At the Tinker and the Primes keynote luncheon Nov. 18, the Honorable Sue Payton, assistant secretary of the Air Force for Acquisition and guest speaker, spoke about the importance of a contractual relationship and the benefits a company can gain when doing business with the Air Force. Ms. Payton spoke to a packed house of Tinker senior leaders, and representatives from nationwide organizations at the Reed Conference Center's main ballroom. "It's so important to have industry support and good communication," said Ms. Payton. "Industry is [key] - our national security is dependent on it. The linkage between our Air Force and our industrial base has to be strong, it has to be trusting and we have to keep it simple." Ms. Payton said she knows it is probably more difficult to establish a contractual relationship with the government versus a peer in private industry, but the benefits may be more advantageous than what is offered in the private sector, if they're offered at all. "What the defense industry or a commercial company gets is a huge market in which their products can springboard into other areas of the government or other areas of the services within the Department of Defense," Ms. Payton said. "When we contract with a Lockheed Martin or a Boeing to build, maintain or modernize a tanker or a cargo plane, typically the government will pay for the factory, 401K, insurance of their employees, travel, and conference fees, etc.," Ms. Payton said. "The bottom line is that industry should be able to make a fair and reasonable profit with lower risk to their shareholders than commercial providers accept. Additionally, the defense industry should have a really good feeling that they're providing war-winning capabilities to our warfighters who are in harm's way." While conducting business with the government does require a potential contractor to meet several standards up front, Ms. Payton said it only helps the company to put their "best foot forward." "Industry thrives when government sets the bar high," Ms. Payton said. "And, when government defines the requirements and incentivizes the kind of behavior that is needed, industry will rise to the occasion." But, the overall message, Ms. Payton said, is to keep the process simple. "When we hand industry a very complex set of requirements to meet, we're just adding risk to our own delivery schedules and risk to cost growth," Ms. Payton said. "The real important thing is to deliver the first baseline system and then gradually spiral in and add more capability as you go in manageable bites." For more information about how to do business with the Air Force, go to www.selltoairforce.org.